Course Description

In a globalised world, food and natural resources are critical: it is especially crucial to secure them in a sustainable way. In contexts like Qatar, undergoing critical changes linked to economic diversification, to the shift towards clean and sustainable energies, and to the effects of climate change, it is strategic to take into account the specific context and needs and ongoing changes. Using lessons learned and results obtained by the Qatar National Research Priority Program project entitled “Governance of Natural Resources in Sub-Saharan Africa: Advancing a Qatari Perspective,” under grant NPRP # 6-1272-5-160 funded by Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF), this course presents best practices from sub-Saharan African contexts, not only to propose case studies to analyze, but also to draw lessons and learning tailored for Qatari stakeholders or foreign ones operating in Qatar. After the June 2017 events, important global issues like food security and natural resource governance are nowadays more than ever of particular relevance for Qatar and required to be dealt with by stakeholders in all sectors. 

Pedagogy

Participants will be provided with real-world case studies, data, and fieldwork information, and experiences from Africa and will become familiar with the most essential understanding of food security and with natural resource governance from an economic, political economy, and legal perspective. Qatari stakeholders with African experience will be invited to share their experiences and views on these critical issues. Every participant will be invited to study food security or a given natural resource in a specific African country as a case study and to identify lessons and relevant policy experiences for the Qatari context. 

Targeted Audience

The targeted audience is wide as it encompasses all the variety of stakeholders concerned by natural resource governance and food sovereignty in Qatar. It includes, but it is not limited to: academics; researchers and policy analysts; graduate students; public officials; private sector stakeholders. 

Course Goals and Objectives

The objective of this course is to: 

• Provide participants with knowledge of the most up-to-date concepts, theories, and foundations on food sovereignty and natural resource governance.
• Equip participants with analytical perspectives to compare and contrast policy models and experiences.
• Introduce ideas, processes, steps, and strategies required to apply these analytical skills in different contexts and situations.
• Help participants design and build their own analytical and policy capacities through coaching to address complex social and environmental problems in sustainable and profitable ways (with African and Qatari examples).

Desired Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this five-days (twenty hours) class, participants are expected to:

• Conceptualize food and natural resource policies and dynamics in a variety of contexts and situations and in the contemporary global world with its challenges and risks. 
• Master natural resource governance and food sovereignty issues and responses in Qatar and in comparison with African contexts from a legal, political economy, and economic perspective. 
• Identify and classify factors and barriers associated with successful governance of resources and develop analytical capacities in this domain.

Weekly Schedule of Topics to be Covered

Day 1 (3 hours)

Presentation of the Literature, Theories, Concepts; Methodology of this course (Cristina)

Day 2 (3 hours)

A Legal Perspective on Natural Resource Governance and Food Sustainability (Damilola)

Day 3 (3 hours)

The Political Economy of Natural Resources and Food (Evren)

Day 4 (3 hours)

Participants’ Case Studies

Day 5 (3 hours)

Additional Case Studies

Lessons Learned

Biographies

The course will be taught by:

• Dr. Cristina D’Alessandro is a political and economic geographer. Her MA and PhD are from the Université François-Rabelais de Tours, France. Her research looks at natural resource governance, development, economic diversification, leadership, and urban transformation.
• Dr. Damilola Olawuyi is an associate professor of law at HBKU’s College of Law and Public Policy. Dr. Olawuyi received his Ph.D. in energy and environmental law from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, an LL.M from Harvard University, and another LL.M from the University of Calgary, Canada.
• Dr. Mohamed Evren Tok received his MA and PhD from Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. His MA was in political economy and PhD was a collaborative degree in public policy and political economy. His research looks into various corporate social responsibility practices globally and study the entrepreneurship, ethics and values nexus. 

Registration:

To register for this course, email eec@hbku.edu.qa.

Course Fees:

Course fees are 1,500 QAR.